Pilgrim's Progress - Introduction | Learn The Bible Learn The Bible Pilgrim's Progress The Preacher Who Wrote "The Pilgrim's Progress" Turning back through the pages of history, we come upon many events which were not thought of as significant by contemporaries, but around which the years that followed have placed a halo of glory. The imprisonment of John Bunyan, the rough Baptist preacher of Bedford, was such an event. It was significant because bunyan, during the long years in the Bedford jail, dreamed and began to write his immortal story, “The Pilgrim’s Progress from This world to That Which Is to Come.” This story was widely read when Bunyan died in 1688, and is read today in more than eighty languages of the earth. Bunyan's Boyhood What sort of a man was Bunyan? From his beautiful writings we would think he was a scholar, having both leisure and culture. But, instead, he was born of poor parents and was never rich. His father was a mender of cooking vessels and John later followed the same trade, hence is often called “the Bedford tinker.” He went to school very little, but managed to learn to read and write.

He tells us that in his youth he was rough and thoughtless and given to swearing and Sabbath breaking. There was little religious influence in his home. Yet, when nine years old, he became interested in religion and was converted when he was twenty-four - or about fifteen years later. Bunyan's Young Manhood When about seventeen, he served a year or more in the army. During one battle, a comrade who went forward in Bunyan’s place was killed. Bunyan never got over the thought that in this way God had spared his life for some purpose. When about twenty, he married a girl who was poor like himself, but of godly parents. She owned two books, of which Bunyan said, “Her only portion was two volumes which her father had given her, ‘The Plain Man’s Pathway,’ and ‘The Practice of Piety.’ In these I sometimes read, wherein I found some things pleasant to me.” Bunyan thus reveals his liking for good literature, yet he little dreamed that he himself would make a valuable contribution to the world’s best literature.

Bunyan Becomes a "Pilgrim" After his marriage, Bunyan gave up much of his wickedness, attended church, read his bible, and found his mind filled with thoughts of his lost condition. His wife encouraged him to read. This period of reading and thinking possibly gave him many of the ideas about which he wrote so beautifully later on. He left off dancing and sabbath breaking and set out from the “City of Destruction” to the “Heavenly Mansions.” One day, as he was walking in the country thinking and praying, there came to his mind this verse, “He hath made peace through the blood of the cross.” He says, “I then say that the justice of God and my sinful soul could embrace each other.” Soon everything became clear and he made a profession of religion after which he began preaching to others about the Saviour he had found. In Prison for Preaching Bunyan joined the Baptist church at Bedford and two years later became its pastor. Great crowds came to hear him.

But his preaching was cut short by King charles II, who came to the throne of England in 1660 and ordered that all preachers who did not belong to the Church of England (Episcopal) should be imprisoned or banished. Bunyan was one of these and was thrown in jail for nothing else than preaching the gospel as he believed it. Twelve years he was kept prisoner. Yet he was not idle. He wrote many religious tracts and sermons. The one called “Grace abounding to the Chief of Sinners” is still read and is a masterpiece of its kind. Thus to his long imprisonment Bunyan owes his literary fame. He had quiet and leisure to think. He reminds us of the apostle Paul, who, while in prison at rome, wrote letters which still bless the world. Building up His Fame in Bedford Jail In 1672 Bunyan was released. But three years later he was put back in jail and at this time he began his great work, The Pilgrim’s Progress. This was a new species of literature upon which he worked; it was published in 1678. Meantime he had been again released from jail.

Three editions in the first year proved the popularity of Pilgrim’s Progress and, also, raised Bunyan to the place of a favorite writer and preacher of England. For the rest of his life, no one cared to put him in prison again. Bunyan's Last Years Bunyan’s last fifteen years were spent in fruitful service for his Lord. His one thought was to preach and write about the way of salvation. He was a popular preacher even in London, where he went annually to visit the Baptist churches. It is said that if a day’s notice was given of his coming, the church would be crowded to overflowing to hear him. He was active until his last illness which was contracted while riding home in a cold, driving rain from Reading, where he had been to reconcile a father to his wayward son. He died August 31, 1688, in his sixty-first year, at the home of a grocer on snow Hill, at ‘The sign of the Star.’ His last words were: “My toilsome days are over. I am going to see the Head that was crowned with thorns and the Face that was spit upon, for me.

I have lived by hearsay and faith; but now I go where I shall live by sight, and shall be with him in whose company I delight myself; take me, for I come to Thee.” Thus, with triumphal joy, he entered the Celestial City. How little did his enemies, who out him in jail, think that God would overrule their cruelty and make it the means of spreading bunyan’s name and story over the whole world, and enable him to speak to every land and all nations, through all generations, until the Lord Himself shall come again. Bunyan is buried in the graveyard at Bunhill Fields, not far from London. In the same graveyard are buried: Daniel DeFoe who wrote Robinson Crusoe; Isaac Watts, the great hymn writer; and Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley. These four people influenced the world as few others have done. John Bunyan Biography, Writer of Pilgrims Progress - Christian Biography Resources The Life of John Bunyan by George W. Latham John Bunyan was born in November, 1628, at Elstow, a little village about a mile south of Bedford in Bedfordshire [England].

His ancestors, who were in very humble circumstances, lived in Bedfordshire probably as early as the twelfth century; and the name, under various spellings, appears in the records of that county at intervals from that time until very recently. Thomas Bunyan, the grandfather of John, left at his death in 1641 a small property, one-half of which he bequeathed to his son Thomas. This second Thomas, who was a maker and mender of pots and kettles, described himself in certain documents as a brazier or tinker. He did not belong to the rather disreputable class of vagrant tinkers for whom seventeenth century literature expressed great contempt, and who were usually of gypsy origin, but was a freeholder, settled permanently in Elstow and plying his trade in the neighboring towns and villages. The mother of John Bunyan, Margaret Bentley of Elstow, came from people of some substance and of a slightly higher social position than the Bunyans. The life of the family was a severe struggle with poverty. Bunyan's parents were able, nevertheless, to send him to school.

In his own words, "It pleased God to put it into their hearts to put me to school, to learn me both to read and write." The only book that we know of his reading in childhood was the Life of Sir Bevis of Southampton, probably one of the cheap pamphlets known as chapbooks. This book was ever after in his mind the type of profane and worldly literature. We know very little of Bunyan's life during this period, but it is clear that the intensity of his inner life, even as a child, was extraordinary. He tells us that it was his delight "to be taken captive by the devil at his will, being filled with all unrighteousness," and that he had few equals for his years "both for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God." At the same time, he was "greatly afflicted and troubled with the thoughts of the fearful torments of hell-fire." Already he had begun to dream dreams and see visions. In 1644 his mother died, and within two months his father married again. This marriage apparently caused an estrangement between father and son, and the son spent the three following years as a soldier.

There is in Bunyan's works one allusion to his military service, and there are many passages which could not have been so realistically managed except for this experience, but there is not a single line to indicate on which side be fought. This is the more remarkable when we remember that the issues in the English Civil War were as much religious as political. The fact is that Bunyan took very little interest in political questions and literally obeyed the injunction to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. In the absence of direct proof Macaulay assumed, in his article on Bunyan in the Encyclopædia Britannica, that Bunyan was on the side of Parliament. Froude, on the other hand relying upon the facts that Bunyan's parents were adherents of the Established Church and that he himself was baptised in the parish church, felt sure that he was on the side of the King. There was really not a particle of direct evidence on the subject until, a few years ago, the muster rolls of the garrison at Newport Pagnell were discovered.

By them it was shown that Bunyan served under Sir Samuel Luke, a well-known Parliamentary commander, who is commonly supposed to be the original of Hudibras, the hero of Butler's celebrated satirical poem. What battles Bunyan engaged in under the leadership of Sir Samuel are entirely unknown, but there is a probability that he was present at the siege of Leicester. After leaving the army, probably in 1647 or 1648, Bunyan married, but no record of his marriage has yet been found, and both the Christian and the family name of his wife are unknown. It seems likely that she was not a native of Elstow. "This woman and I," says Bunyan, "though we came together as poor as poor might be (not having so much household stuff as a dish or a spoon betwixt us both), yet this she had for her part, 'The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven' and 'The Practice of Piety.'" By means of these books and the assistance of his wife, he recovered the art of reading, which he apparently had forgotten. He seems also to have resumed his tinker's trade.

In 1905 his anvil, stamped with his name and the date 1647, was found in a pile of rubbish at St. Neots, near Bedford. The four years following his marriage were the period of the intense spiritual struggles which Bunyan records in the autobiography, written many years later, entitled Grace Abounding. It was this experience which made it possible for him to write The Pilgrim's Progress. His pathway to the New Life was the same that the Pilgrim trod. He knew the Valley of Humiliation, and the Valley of the Shadow of Death; he had lain in the dungeons of Doubting Castle; and he finally overcame Giant Despair. He felt himself to be a great sinner and constantly stood in fear of the wrath of God, yet many of the sins of which he accuses himself seem at least venial. One of his weaknesses was a fondness for playing the game of cat, especially on Sunday afternoons.

He himself tells us how he overcame this: "But the same day, as I was in the midst of a game at cat, and having struck it one blow from the hole, just as I was about to strike it a second time, a voice did suddenly dart from heaven into my soul which said, 'Wilt thou leave thy sins and go to heaven, or have thy sins and go to hell?'" Another worldliness was a delight in ringing the bells in the tower of Elstow Church. His conscience troubled him in the matter, and he gave up the practice, yet not without reluctance. "I would go to the steeple-house and look on, though I durst not ring, ... but quickly after I began to think how if one of the bells should fall? So after this I would yet go to see them ring, but would not go any farther than the steeple-door; but then it came into my head, how if the steeple itself should fall? And this thought ...

did continually so shake my mind that I durst not stand at the steeple-door any longer, but was forced to flee for fear the steeple should fall upon my head." It was years before he found peace, but he was helped to it by intercourse with John Gifford, the pastor of an independent religious body in Bedford. During the Protectorate, this congregation occupied St. John's Church in Bedford, Gifford being in fact the rector of the parish. In 1653 Bunyan joined this body, although still living in Elstow, and two years later, having removed to Bedford, he was chosen a deacon in the church. He continued to employ himself as a tinker, but this new interest in the Bedford church must have come to be of paramount importance. His fervor and his power of expression, shown in extemporaneous exhortation, soon brought him into prominence among, his co-religionists, who formally recognized his "call to preach." This recognition was not a legal license, but Bunyan, nevertheless, was in the habit of preaching in the surrounding towns. As a result of this disregard of the law he was indicted in 1658.

Apparently the indictment was not pressed, for there is no record of any trial or sentence. It is impossible to believe that Bunyan desisted from preaching. Bunyan had been preaching a year when he became entangled in a controversy with the Quakers. These followers of the "inner light," who believed that the individual conscience was the only safe guide to conduct, seemed to some to disparage the written word. Bunyan, of course, believed the Bible to be literally the word of God. This controversy was the beginning of Bunyan's literary career. In 1656 appeared Some Gospel Truths Opened, in which, according to Offor, the editor of the most recent edition of Bunyan's complete works, Bunyan "attacked the follies of the time, exposed and condemned heresies without mercy." The pamphlet was answered by Edward Burroughs, a somewhat well-known Quaker of the time, who died six years later in prison at Newgate. Bunyan replied with a Vindication of Some Gospel Truths Opened.

The title of his third book (1658), which deals with the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, is highly characteristic; it is called, A Few Sighs from Hell, or the Groans of a Damned Soul; by that poor and contemptible servant of Jesus Christ, John Bunyan. For thirty years he continued to publish books with hardly any cessation, and he is one of the most voluminous writers of his time. In most instances, Bunyan's books seem to have been built up from sermons that were originally preached extemporaneously. 1660 was the year of the Restoration, and in spite of the promises of toleration made by Charles, the old acts against the Nonconformists were revived. Bedfordshire had long been a hot-bed of nonconformity, and the county magistrates in Quarter Sessions at Bedford entered upon the work of subjugation with extraordinary zeal. An order was issued for the restoration of the Prayer Book in all churches. One of the justices, Sir Francis Wingate, learned that Bunyan was intending to preach near the small village of Lower Samsall, and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Bunyan might easily have escaped, but he felt that it was his duty to persevere. In the midst of the sermon the constable entered and arrested him. The following day he appeared before Wingate. There was really nothing to charge him with, the Act of Uniformity, which required all public religious worship to be according to the Liturgy of the Church of England not being passed until over a year later. Nevertheless, Wingate committed Bunyan to Bedford Jail to await the next Quarter Sessions. At the Sessions, he was convicted under the unrepealed but almost forgotten "Conventicle Act" of 1593, of "perniciously abstaining from coming to church to hear divine service, and for being a common upholder of several unlawful meetings and conventicles to the great disturbance and distraction of the good subjects of this kingdom." The judgment of the court was that he must be taken back to jail for three months, and if then he "should not submit to go to church and leave off preaching," he should be "banished the realm." If found in the country after that, he should hang. The actual sentence was not executed. Instead, Bunyan was kept in jail for twelve years.

The twelve years' imprisonment was interrupted by an interval of a few weeks of freedom in 1666, and during the whole period the closeness of his confinement seems to have depended upon the disposition of his jailers. Sometimes he was allowed to go out to preach, and he was in the habit of preaching to audiences of forty and fifty within the jail. One of his visitors has told us that the books to which he had access were the Bible and Foxe's Book of Martyrs. The greater part of his time while in jail must have been taken up with preaching and writing, but for the support of his family he made "long tagged laces." Many of Bunyan's books were written during these twelve years, and the tradition was that The Pilgrim's Progress was one of them, but it seems more likely that this famous book was written during a later imprisonment. In 1666 was published the first edition of Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. This is Bunyan's spiritual autobiography. It tells us surprisingly little about the external affairs of his career, but as a record of the inner life it is to be ranked with the Confessions of St. Augustine.

In spite of its poverty in matters of fact, it remains the principal source of information in regard to Bunyan's life up to the time of his imprisonment. In 1672 the long imprisonment came to an end. Charles II., in his eagerness to benefit the Catholics, had suspended all the statutes against the Nonconformists. Bunyan received royal authority to preach and was called to the pastorate of the Bedford church, having been chosen for this office before his release. At the Restoration, St. John's Church had been returned to the Episcopalians, and the congregation now met in a barn belonging to one of its members. During these years Bunyan enjoyed prosperity in his work, and his reputation extended as far as London, where great crowds gathered to hear him preach. Because of his habit of making many visits to places in the neighboring country, he gained in friendly jest the title of Bishop Bunyan. This comparative ease was not to last long. In 1675 the attitude of the government towards Nonconformists changed, and many licenses to preach were withdrawn.

In March of the following year, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Bunyan on the charge of "having preached to or teached at a Conventicle meeting or assembly under colour or pretense of exercise of religion in other manner than according to the Liturgie or Practice of the Church of England." He seems to have been imprisoned at this time for six months, probably in the tiny one-room jail on the bridge over the River Ouse. Numerous engravings have made the cell and the bridge familiar to millions of persons, and it was long thought that here was the scene of the twelve years' imprisonment. It seems more likely that Bunyan spent those years in the county jail in the central part of Bedford. There can be little doubt, however, that The Pilgrim's Progress was written, in great part at any rate, in the bridge jail during this six months' imprisonment, and that to this extent the tradition is well founded. The Pilgrim's Progress, which appeared in 1678, became almost at once a popular book, and it made Bunyan the best-known Nonconformist in England. His success led him to undertake other religious allegories.

In 1680 he brought out The Life and Death of Mr. Badman, which he intended to be the counterpart of The Pilgrim's Progress. The title indicates clearly enough the nature of the book. Because of its lack of vivacity and the unpleasantness of the subject-matter it is not comparable with the earlier work. Two years later appeared The Holy War, next to The Pilgrim's Progress and perhaps Grace Abounding, his most popular book. It is an account of the defense of the City of Mansoul against the attacks of the Devil. In writing this allegory, Bunyan's military experience was of immense value to him. In some respects it is more direct and logical in plan than The Pilgrim's Progress, but it is decidedly inferior to it in realism; one does not find oneself forgetting the allegory. But of this book Macaulay has said, "If there had been no Pilgrim's Progress, The Holy War would have been the first of religious allegories." During these later years Bunyan enjoyed immense influence, and his services were demanded in almost every part of England.

He died August 31, 1688, in London, whither he had gone to effect a reconciliation between a father and a son. He was buried in Bunhill Fields, Finsbury, the "Campo Santo of the Dissenters." A contemporary, whose identify is unknown, has left the following account of Bunyan's character and person: A Brief Character of Mr. John Bunyan "He appeared in countenance to be of a stern and rough temper, but in his conversation mild and affable; not given to loquacity or much discourse in company, unless some urgent occasion required it; observing never to boast of himself or his parts, but rather seem low in his own eyes, and submit himself to the judgment of others; abhorring lying and swearing, being just in all that lay in his power to his word, not seeming to revenge injuries, loving to reconcile differences and make friendship with all; he had a sharp quick eye, accomplished with an excellent discerning of persons, being of good judgment and quick wit.

As for his person, he was tall of stature, strong boned, though not corpulent, somewhat of a ruddy face, with sparkling eyes, wearing his hair on his upper lip, after the old British fashion; his hair reddish, but in his latter days time had sprinkled it with grey; his nose well set, but not declining or bending, and his mouth moderate large; his forehead something high, and his habit always plain and modest. And thus we have impartially described the internal and external parts of a person whose death hath been much regretted — a person who had tried the smiles and frowns of time, not puffed up in prosperity nor shaken in adversity, always holding the golden mean. In him at once did three great worthies shine Historian, poet, and a choice divine: Then let him rest in undisturbed dust, Until the resurrection of the just." BIBLIOGRAPHY The standard biography is John Bunyan, His Life, Times, and Work by John Brown, D.D., Minister of the Bunyan Church at Bedford (London: Isbister and Co.). The edition of 1902 was largely rewritten, and includes many new facts in regard to Bunyan's life.

The book by Froude in the English Men of Letters Series, although occasionally inaccurate, contains much suggestive and penetrating criticism of Bunyan's works. The reader will find there an interesting summary of Bunyan's theology. More useful for general reference, however, is Canon Venables' John Bunyan, in the Great Writers Series. There is in this book a carefully compiled bibliography. A recent book, John Bunyan by W. Hale White (Scribner's) contains some useful outlines of Bunyan's more important works. Every student of Bunyan should read Macaulay's Essay on Southey's edition of The Pilgrim's Progress, as well as his sketch of Bunyan contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica. Copied for WholesomeWords.org from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. Edited for school use by George W. Latham. Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1906. John Bunyan English Bible History John Bunyan John Bunyan (November 30, 1628 - August 31, 1688), was the most famous of the Puritan writers and preachers.

He was born at Harrowden (1 mile south-east of Bedford), in the Parish of Elstow, England. He is most well-known for his book “The Pilgrim's Progress”, one of the most printed books in history, which he composed while in prison for the crime of preaching the Gospel without a license. John Bunyan – An Overview John Bunyan had very little schooling. He followed his father in the tinker's trade, and he served in the parliamentary army from1644 to 1647). Bunyan married in 1649 and lived in Elstow until 1655, when his wife died. He then moved to Bedford, and married again in 1659. John Bunyan was received into the Baptist church in Bedford by immersion in 1653. In 1655, Bunyan became a deacon and began preaching, with marked success from the start. In 1658 he was indicted for preaching without a license.

The authorities were fairly tolerant of him for a while, and he did not suffer imprisonment until November of 1660, when he was taken to the county jail in Silver Street, Bedford, and there confined (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666) for 12 years until January 1672. Bunyan afterward became pastor of the Bedford church. In March of 1675 he was again imprisoned for preaching publicly without a license, this time being held in the Bedford town jail. In just six months this time he was freed, (no doubt the authorities were growing weary of providing Bunyan with free shelter and food) and he was not bothered again by the authorities. Herein is a great controversy. As John Bunyan was married with children to support, and he could have walked out of the jail a free man at any time if he simply promised to stop preaching publicly without a license, one must ask if he really did the right thing. He was not asked to deny Christ or to recant his faith as the Protestant martyrs of a century earlier were. Indeed, many of those around him were openly Christians who shared his faith.

Bunyan was simply asked to stop preaching without a license, or to move on. Should Bunyan have simply agreed and walked out of the jail and gone home to fulfill his duties before God as a husband and father? Or did he do the right thing in making those duties secondary to his personal conviction that he should be allowed to preach in that city without a license? Bunyan was not a martyr, nor was he ever violently persecuted, but his convictions, whether admirable or misplaced, were quite strong and vexed the local authorities who viewed him more as a troublemaker than any real threat. On a trip to London, John Bunyan caught a severe cold, and he died at the house of a friend at Snow Hill on August 31, 1688. His grave lies in the cemetery at Bunhill Fields in London. The Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress in two parts, of which the first appeared at London in 1678, which he had begun during his imprisonment in 1676. The second part appeared in 1684. The earliest edition in which the two parts were combined in one volume came out in 1728.

A third part falsely attributed to Bunyan appeared in 1693. “The Pilgrim's Progress” is the most successful allegory ever written, and like the Bible has been extensively translated into other languages. Protestant missionaries commonly translated it as the first thing after the Bible. It is said that in the days of westward expansion in the United States, early settlers often owned only two books, one being the Bible, and the other being John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. John Bunyan wrote many other books, including one which discussed his inner life and reveals his preparation for his appointed work is “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners” (1666). Bunyan became a popular preacher as well as a very voluminous author, though most of his works consist of expanded sermons. In theology he was a Puritan, but not a partisan. He was no scholar, except of the English Bible, but that he knew thoroughly. He also drew much influence from Martin Luther's “Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians”. Some time before his final release from prison Bunyan became involved in a controversy with two theologians of his day: Kiffin and Paul.

In 1673 he published his Differences in Judgement about Water-Baptism no Bar to Communion, in which he took the ground that "the Church of Christ hath not warrant to keep out of the communion the Christian that is discovered to be a visible saint of the word, the Christian that walketh according to his own light with God." While he agreed as a Baptist that water baptism was God's ordinance, he refused to make "an idol of it," and he disagreed with those who would dis-fellowship from Christians who did not adhere to water baptism. Kiffin and Paul published a rejoinder in Serious Reflections (London, 1673), in which they set forth the argument in favor of the restriction of the Lord's Supper to baptized believers. The controversy resulted in the Particular (Calvinistic) Baptists leaving the question of communion with the unbaptized open. Bunyan's church permitted pedobaptists (those who baptize children, such as the Calvinistic Presbyterian Church) to fellowship and eventually, Bunyan’s church even became a pedobaptist church.

SparkNotes: The Pilgrim’s Progress: Part I: Author’s Apology, the First Stage, and the Second Stage Part I: Author’s Apology, the First Stage, and the Second Stage → Part I: Author’s Apology, the First Stage, and the Second Stage, page 2 page 1 of 3 Summary In his Apology, Bunyan affirms his aim to strengthen religious belief through fiction. He attacks the popular misconception that religion and fiction are enemies, asserting that the Bible contains many fictional parables. Bunyan also states that he wrote his work mainly for himself, to further his own spiritual development. Beginning the allegory, the narrator tells of his wandering through the wilderness, entering a den to sleep. He dreams that he sees a man in rags holding a book and crying. The man, named Christian, is visited by Evangelist, a spiritual guide who tells him he must leave his hometown, the City of Destruction, with a heavy burden on his back. Christian tries to convince his family to come with him, but they think he is mentally unwell and will recover. Instead of attempting to persuade them further, Christian leaves home. Christian tries to convince his neighbors Obstinate and Pliable to accompany him.

Obstinate refuses, but Pliable agrees, though he is soon discouraged when he and Christian fall into a muddy pit called the Slough of Despond. Christian sinks because of the burden on his back. A man named Help pulls him out. Disappointed, Pliable turns back home. Walking alone now, Christian meets Worldly Wiseman, who urges him to throw down his burden. Although Christian distrusts Wordly Wiseman, he nevertheless listens to Wordly Wiseman speak. Later Evangelist returns to reproach Christian for listening to Worldly Wiseman. Evangelist kisses Christian goodbye and wishes him well, and Christian resumes his journey. He comes upon a Wicket Gate and reads a sign hung above it that says to knock. A serious-looking attendant named Goodwill appears. Goodwill asks where Christian is heading, and Christian tells him he is on his way to Mount Zion, also known as the Celestial City, to be saved from the wrath soon to be unleashed on the City of Destruction. Goodwill announces that he wills the gate to open. As it opens, he pulls Christian in, explaining that he is saving his guest from Beelzebub’s arrows shot from a nearby castle.

With Christian safe inside, Goodwill requests an account of his journey so far. Before agreeing, Christian asks whether he can first set down his burden. Goodwill says no, explaining that it must be carried and will drop off naturally when no longer needed. Christian reports his progress so far. Satisfied, Goodwill then sends Christian to a nearby house where the Interpreter lives, saying that the Interpreter may show Christian many helpful things. The Interpreter invites Christian into his home. He shows Christian a picture of a serious man in a crown. Christian asks who it is, and the Interpreter tells him that the man saves souls and promises a better world beyond this one. Next Christian enters a large, dusty parlor where the Interpreter orders a man to sweep. Then at the Interpreter’s command, a woman comes in and sprinkles water on the floor, cleaning it further. Christian asks what this means, and the Interpreters explains that the man’s sweeping is the law of the Old Testament, while the woman’s washing is the gospel of the New Testament. Both are necessary parts of faith.

1 John Bunyan - Christian Classics Ethereal Library - Christian Classics Ethereal Library Biography, Christian life, Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages, Criticism (interpretation), England Top Biography Source: Wikepedia John Bunyan had very little schooling. He followed his father in the tinker's trade, and he served in the parliamentary army from1644 to 1647. Bunyan married in 1649 and lived in Elstow until 1655, when his wife died. He then moved to Bedford, and married again in 1659. John Bunyan was received into the Baptist church in Bedford by immersion in 1653. In 1655, Bunyan became a deacon and began preaching, with marked success from the start. In 1658 he was indicted for preaching without a license. The authorities were fairly tolerant of him for a while, and he did not suffer imprisonment until November of 1660, when he was taken to the county jail in Silver Street, Bedford, and there confined (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666) for 12 years until January 1672.

Bunyan afterward became pastor of the Bedford church. In March of 1675 he was again imprisoned for preaching publicly without a license, this time being held in the Bedford town jail. In just six months this time he was freed, (no doubt the authorities were growing weary of providing Bunyan with free shelter and food) and he was not bothered again by the authorities. John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress in two parts, of which the first appeared at London in 1678,which he had begun during his imprisonment in 1676. The second part appeared in 1684. The earliest edition in which the two parts were combined in one volume came out in 1728. A third part falsely attributed to Bunyan appeared in 1693. The Pilgrim's Progressis the most successful allegory ever written, and like the Bible has been extensively translated into other languages. John Bunyan wrote many other books, including one which discussed his inner life and reveals his preparation for his appointed work is Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666).

Bunyan became a popular preacher as well as a very voluminous author, though most of his works consist of expanded sermons. In theology he was a Puritan, but not a partisan. He was no scholar, except of the English Bible, but that he knew thoroughly. He also drew much influence from Martin Luther's Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians. Some time before his final release from prison Bunyan became involved in a controversy with two theologians of his day: Kiffin and Paul.

In 1673 he published his Differences in Judgement about Water-Baptism no Bar to Communion, in which he took the ground that "the Church of Christ hath not warrant to keep out of the communion the Christian that is discovered to be a visible saint of the word, the Christian that walketh according to his own light with God." While he agreed as a Baptist that water baptism was God's ordinance, he refused to make "an idol of it," and he disagreed with those who would dis-fellowship from Christians who did not adhere to water baptism Kiffin and Paul published a rejoinder in Serious Reflections (London, 1673), in which they set forth the argument in favor of the restriction of the Lord's Supper to baptized believers. The controversy resulted in the Particular (Calvinistic) Baptists leaving the question of communion with the unbaptized open. Bunyan's church permitted pedobaptists (those who baptize children, such as the Calvinistic Presbyterian Church) to fellowship and eventually, Bunyan’s church even became a pedobaptist church.

On a trip to London, John Bunyan caught a severe cold, and he died at the house of a friend at Snow Hill on August 31, 1688. His grave lies in the cemetery at Bunhill Fields in London. Top Quotes by John Bunyan SparkNotes: The Pilgrim’s Progress: Plot Overview The Pilgrim’s Progress Context Character List The narrator defends the story he is about to tell, which is framed as a dream. He explains that he fell asleep in the wilderness and dreamed of a man named Christian, who was tormented by spiritual anguish. A spiritual guide named Evangelist visits Christian and urges him to leave the City of Destruction. Evangelist claims that salvation can only be found in the Celestial City, known as Mount Zion. Christian begs his family to accompany him, unsuccessfully. On his way, Christian falls into a bog called the Slough of Despond, but he is saved. He meets Worldly Wiseman, who urges him to lead a practical, happy existence without religion. Refusing, Christian is sheltered in Goodwill’s house. Goodwill tells Christian to stop by the Interpreter’s home, where Christian learns many lessons about faith.

Walking along the wall of Salvation, Christian sees Christ’s tomb and cross. At this vision, his burden falls to the ground. One of the three Shining Ones, celestial creatures, hands him a rolled certificate for entry to the Celestial City. Christian falls asleep and loses his certificate. Since the certificate is his ticket into the Celestial City, Christian reproaches himself for losing it. After retracing his tracks, he eventually finds the certificate. Walking on, Christian meets the four mistresses of the Palace Beautiful, who provide him shelter. They also feed him and arm him. After descending the Valley of Humiliation, Christian meets the monster Apollyon, who tries to kill him. Christian is armed, and he strikes Apollyon with a sword and then proceeds through the desert-like Valley of the Shadow of Death toward the Celestial City. Christian meets Faithful, a traveler from his hometown. Faithful and Christian are joined by a third pilgrim, Talkative, whom Christian spurns. Evangelist arrives and warns Faithful and Christian about the wicked town of Vanity, which they will soon enter. Evangelist foretells that either Christian or Faithful will die in Vanity. The two enter Vanity and visit its famous fair.

They resist temptation and are mocked by the townspeople. Eventually the citizens of Vanity imprison Christian and Faithful for mocking their local religion. Faithful defends himself at his trial and is executed, rising to heaven after death. Christian is remanded to prison but later escapes and continues his journey. Another fellow pilgrim named Hopeful befriends Christian on his way. On their journey, a pilgrim who uses religion as a means to get ahead in the world, named By-ends, crosses their path. Christian rejects his company. The two enter the plain of Ease, where a smooth talker named Demas tempts them with silver. Christian and Hopeful pass him by. Taking shelter for the night on the grounds of Doubting Castle, they awake to the threats of the castle’s owner, the Giant Despair, who, with the encouragement of his wife, imprisons and tortures them. Christian and Hopeful escape when they remember they possess the key of Promise, which unlocks any door in Despair’s domain. Proceeding onward, Christian and Hopeful approach the Delectable Mountains near the Celestial City. They encounter wise shepherds who warn them of the treacherous mountains Error and Caution, where previous pilgrims have died.

The shepherds point out travelers who wander among tombs nearby, having been blinded by the Giant Despair. They warn the travelers to beware of shortcuts, which may be paths to hell. The two pilgrims meet Ignorance, a sprightly teenager who believes that living a good life is sufficient to prove one’s religious faith. Christian refutes him, and Ignorance decides to avoid their company. The travelers also meet Flatterer, who snares them in a net, and Atheist, who denies that the Celestial City exists. Crossing the sleep-inducing Enchanted Ground, they try to stay awake by discussing Hopeful’s sinful past and religious doctrine. Christian and Hopeful gleefully approach the land of Beulah, where the Celestial City is located. The landscape teems with flowers and fruit, and the travelers are refreshed. To reach the gate into the city, they must first cross a river without a bridge. Christian nearly drowns, but Hopeful reminds him of Christ’s love, and Christian emerges safely from the water. The residents of the Celestial City joyously welcome the two pilgrims. In his conclusion to Part I, the narrator expresses hope that his dream be interpreted properly.

In the Introduction to Part II, Bunyan addresses the book as “Christiana,” which is the name of Christian’s wife. This part of The Pilgrim’s Progress tells the story of Christiana and her children’s journey to the Celestial City. The narrator recounts having met an old man, Sagacity, who tells the beginning of Christiana’s story. She decides to pack up and follow Christian to the Celestial City, taking her four sons and a fellow townswoman named Mercy along as a servant. On the way, they cross the Slough of Despond but are blocked at the gate by an angry dog. The gatekeeper lets them through. Continuing on, the sons steal fruit from the devil’s garden, and two ruffians threaten to rape the women, but they escape. The pilgrims are lodged in the Interpreter’s house. The Interpreter orders his manservant Great-heart to accompany them to the House Beautiful. Mr. Brisk pays court to Mercy but soon stops courting her because of her involvement in charity work. As a result of eating the devil’s fruit, Matthew falls ill but is cured by Dr. Skill. The pilgrims descend into the Valley of Humiliation and cross the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

They encounter the giant Maul and slay him. After meeting the old pilgrim Honest, they take shelter with Gaius. The pilgrims continue on their journey and kill the Giant Good-slay then rescue the pilgrims Feeble-mind and Ready-to-Halt. They lodge with Mnason. Crossing the river of life, they kill the Giant Despair and greet the kind shepherds who welcome them into the Delectable Mountains. Christiana meets the great fighter Valiant-for-truth, who accompanies them. They cross the Enchanted Ground and meet the pilgrim Standfast, who has just spurned Madam Bubble, a beautiful temptress. The pilgrims are welcomed in the Celestial City. Christiana goes to meet her maker, the Master. The other pilgrims soon follow. More Help

Question: Who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress?
Answer: John Bunyan